CRSV: First Chechen War
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Background of the conflict
The first Russo-Chechen war, also called the First Chechen War was a struggle fit independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, against the Russian Federation between December 1994 and August 1996 (Evangelista, 2002). In the run up to this war, the battle of Grozny took place, where Russia covertly tried to overthrow the new Chechen Government. The Battle of Grozny was won by the Russian forces, and Russia began to actively try to control the remaining lowlands and mountainous regions of Chechnya (German, 2003). The Chechen guerrillas resisted these efforts fiercely, recapturing Grozny in the process (Evangelista, 2002). The war ended with the Khasayyurt Accord, which called for a ceasefire, and culminated in the signing of the 1997 Russia-Chechnya Peace Treaty. Estimates suggest that casualties ranged around 6000-14,000 military deaths on the Russian side, and 3000-10000 military and 30,000-100,000 civilian deaths on the Chechen side. Over 200,000 Chechen civilians were injured and 500,000 were displaced (German, 2003).
Prevalence of sexual violence
Reports suggest that sexual and gender-based violence were rampant during the Chechen war (Centre for Russian Studies, 1994). In the course of Russian sweep operations, several women and girls were subject to tape and sexual assault (Rousseau, 2004). Rape was particularly common in detention centres (Human Rights Watch, 2002) and at border checkpoints (Human Rights Violations in Chechnya, 2002). Reports show that the Russian armed forces used rape and sexual violence as deliberate actions to target Chechen women in particular (Rousseva, 2004).
Basis of the use of sexual violence
Rape and sexual violence were deliberately used as part of a larger campaign of ethnic erasure targeting the Chechen people. It was also used as a tool for torture and intimidation of the Chechen population, and as a tool to humiliate society by targeting its women, in order to cause the breakdown of the social order in Chechnya.
References
Centre for Russian Studies (1994). Army Demoralized. http://www.nupi.no/cgi-win/Russland/krono.exe?3271
Evangelista, M. (2002). The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union?. Washington: Brookings Institution Press.
German, T. C. (2003). Russia's Chechen War. New York: Routledge Curzon.
Human Rights Violations in Chechnya. (2002). Transnational Radical Party. http://www.hrvc.net/main.htm
Human Rights Watch. (2002). Russian Federation: Serious Violations of Women's Human Rights in Chechnya. http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/chechnya_women.htm
Rousseva, V. (2004) "Rape and Sexual Assault in Chechnya," Culture, Society , and Pr axis: Vol. 3: No. 1, Article 7. https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/csp/vol3/iss1/7.
